Demon's Cradle (Devany Miller Book 3) (9 page)

But I was guessing the neighbors could. Damn it, Tytan.

I hurried downstairs, pausing to slip my feet into shoes and my arms into my coat. I deactivated the alarm and slipped out, locking the door behind me. “What are you doing here?”

“I thought you would like a report. And I knew you were awake.”

No curtains were twitching but I didn’t hold out hope that no one had seen him acting the ass in my front yard. “How?”

A dimple. “I felt you.”

“Do you know how not to be creepy?”

Another dimple. “Where did I feel you? Right here.” He flattened his hand low on his stomach, drawing my eyes down ...

“Knock it off.”

“Come with me for a coffee.” He gestured toward a black Jeep curbside.

“Where’d you get that?” I hoped I didn’t sound too envious. I’d always wanted a Jeep and here Tytan had one and I didn’t. I pulled my phone out of my pocket. “The only place open and nearby would be Denny’s.”

“I could use some bacon and pancakes.”

I debated. I didn’t like leaving the kids, but it wasn’t like they didn’t have enough adults in the house between Travis, Arsinua, and Dad. “Fine. An hour. No more.”

***

The restaurant was crowded, mostly packed with college kids. Walking in with Tytan was like wearing an invisibility cloak. All eyes were on him, and I was as good as absent. It made me want to make faces or fart, just to see if anyone would peel their gaze away from him long enough to notice me, but I restrained myself. Seriously, was there a point in a person’s life when they officially grew up? I didn’t think I’d ever hit that mark.

I slid into the booth, not paying attention, and Tytan slid in next, pressing his body against me. I turned to find his face entirely too close to mine. “Would you stop? There’s a whole other side. You don’t need to sit here.” I scooted over—and so did he.

“Do you think I will give up a chance to touch you, mistress mine?”

“Yes. Move.”

He leaned in further. “Make me.”

I shifted, intending to jab him hard in the side when the server showed up with a pot of coffee. “You all know what you’re ordering?” she asked as she turned over Tytan’s coffee cup. She almost dropped the pot when Tytan tipped his head up and smiled at her.

“Two specials.”

“Now you’re ordering for me, too?” I jerked my leg away from his. To the server I said, “Isn’t he cute? He was involved in a horrible accident that severed his penis and testicles from his body.”

Tytan laughed. The server filled my cup then gathered the menus in one practiced hand. “I don’t have to sleep with him to enjoy the view.” She winked and left, leaving me with a way too affectionate Skriven by my side.

I dumped a few thousand sugars into my cup and stirred, wishing I’d said no or better yet, just ignored his summons. “So what did you find out about Harrison?” My entire right side burned with the knowledge that it was pressed up against him, every movement I made translated to his body.

“Are you sure you want to talk business? Perhaps we could discuss how magical we’d be together in bed.” His elegant hand dropped, his fingers stroking mine.

I fought off the shiver and moved my hand to a safer position across my body. “Harrison?” I put a bit of, ‘Are you an idiot?’ to it, hoping it would take his mind off sex. Yeah, right.

“In Elkhorn.”

“Nebraska?” The word came out shriller than I intended. A curly haired dude turned in his booth to look at me and I waved him away, pulling out my cell phone, and bumping my elbow into Ty’s ribs in the process. “I have to tell Danni.”

Tytan wrapped his fingers around mine holding the phone. “The man is in a hotel room. Planning what he will do to his wife once he finds her.” One of his fingers slid between mine in an absurdly intimate way. “It seems I have a talent for listening. Would you like to see some of the memories he has of her?”

Before I could say no, Tytan gripped my hand tighter and plunged me into a basement with a screaming woman in the corner. Blood. Pain. Fear so tight and white hot it caused the woman to lose control of her bowels. I yanked my hand from his with a gasp and knocked my coffee across the table. Black liquid tsunamied onto the opposite bench and the cup rattled and spun.

I sat panting as Tytan said the pretty words of apology to the busser, who muttered in Spanish as he sopped up the mess.

I had enough in my head. Enough bad. Enough ugly. I didn’t need to know. Didn’t need to see.

“So, Devany my sweet. I offer you a choice. Call Danni. Let the cops know, and have this piece of human excrement live another day. Or.” He turned a bit in the seat, his knee pressing insistently into mine, as he slid a silver dagger out of his sleeve. “We pay him a visit. You and I. And we teach him what pain and fear really are.”

Damn him. Despite trying hard not to let him anywhere near me, he knew me. Knew I’d entertained my own fantasies of catching Harrison and doing to him what he’d done to Danni. Using him as an effigy for all abusers, to avenge those who’d been hurt by the person who was supposed to love them, and instead hurt them in a thousand little ways. Those tiny, never ending cuts could bleed someone dry given enough time.

Harrison had almost destroyed Danni. Had taken her confidence, her sense of self and safety, her very value as a human being and taught her she was nothing but his toy. And now he was back to finish breaking her.

So what was the moral thing to do? Call the police. Take him back to prison.

But he wouldn’t suffer. Not enough. It would never be enough.

The server slid plates in front of us. I didn’t see the food. I saw Danni on the floor in that basement. And I debated what kind of person I was.

SIX

I woke in my bed. Death ray caliber light blasted through my window. Slamming my eyes shut didn’t help the unholy brightness of it. What time was it? Surely I hadn’t slept through my alarm.

I rolled toward my bedside table, and slapped my hand around until it found my phone. Safely burrowed under the covers, I eased my eyes open to squint at the time. Two o’clock. In the afternoon?

I kicked at the covers and stumbled from bed, my legs weak and unable to bear my weight right away. I thudded into the wall and leaned there for a moment getting my land legs back again. I blinked and blinked until the room snapped back into focus. All right. Functioning vision and—I took a hesitant step—functioning legs. Right.

I opened the door to see my dad standing on the other side, his hand raised to knock. “Oh good, you’re alive. I told that young lady downstairs not to worry.”

“Why didn’t anyone wake me?”

“As if we didn’t try. Banged on your door for an hour this morning.” He grinned. “Suppose you drank too much, huh? Atta girl.”

“Uh. No Dad. I didn’t drink.”

“Sick then. No worries. Kids have been fed. Twice. So’s the kitty.”

I batted hair out of my face. “The what?”

A tiny meow alerted me to the what in question. A fluffy white thing curled around Dad’s ankles and strutted into my room. “The kitty. There was some argument on what to name her so I took both their suggestions under consideration and called her Cheeseweed.”

“Cheeseweed?”

“Yep. It was a compromise. Bethy wanted to name her Milk and Liam wanted Lionessa.”

Maybe I was still befuddled from sleep because I wasn’t following his logic. “Cheeseweed is a compromise?”

“Sure it is.” He held out a hand. “Cheese is made with milk.” Out went the other hand. “Dandelions are weeds.” He clapped his hands. “Cheeseweed!”

I just shook my head, wincing at the sharp bite of pain in my neck. “Okay. I’m going to take a shower. Then I’ll be down.”

“No hurry. I was just coming up to see if I could wake you, for one. For another, I wanted you to know the kids and I are going to the zoo.”

“Oh.” The zoo was one of my favorite places. “I have passes ...” my words trailed off when he held up his hand.

“Got ‘em.” He leaned in and kissed my cheek. “I had them pack an overnight bag. We’re going to stay at the Hilton and swim this evening. Eat pizza, watch a movie, play video games until our fingers burn.” He patted my cheek, his hand callused and familiar against my skin. “Take it easy, sweetheart. You’re stressed out. I see it in everything you do. Your mother was the same way. Let things eat at her. Long bath. Deep breaths. Maybe a good book. And, damn it, get a drink or two. Father’s orders.”

“Thanks Dad.”

He winked and left me standing in the doorway. Downstairs I could hear Bethy chattering away and wondered what the kids thought about me sleeping in past noon. I wasn’t sure what I thought about it. Nothing in my memory suggested anything strange. Coffee. Tytan being Tytan. His suggestion that we take care of Harrison together. My refusal. The argument that led me to insist he drive me home. He’d had a vaguely wounded look in his eyes as I shut the front door in his face.

At my feet, Cheeseweed meowed again. I scooped her up, sighing at the fluffy softness of her fur. She purred as I carried her to the bathroom, dropping a towel on the floor for her to sit on, if she wished, while I took a shower.

Had he slipped me a roofie? Was that why I’d passed out cold for hours? I wouldn’t put it past him but my body didn’t feel like he’d taken liberties. Besides, I clearly remembered coming up the stairs and getting in bed, after I’d left him standing on my doorstep. And I’d checked my phone before going to sleep. Eight past four in the morning. Then I zonked.

The shower helped wash away the fuzz and clean hair always made me feel like a human being again. The kitten was asleep under the sink, rousing when I nudged her gently with a toe. We’d never had a pet, not even when Liam was four and begged and begged. Tom wasn’t an animal lover and he’d been allergic, to boot, which meant I couldn’t have overridden his veto without looking like an ass. I was glad to have one now, though I did feel sorry about her name. She’d have a complex, it was guaranteed.

“Come on Cheeseweed. Let’s see what’s on TV.”

***

I tried to relax. I really did. But daytime TV sucked and Cheeseweed was a lot more playful than cuddly. In the end I dressed, then tucked the kitten in the crook of my arm before padding downstairs. I’d call Zech and ask him where I could find the Wastes and Ketwer Island—the places the nasally witch had mentioned during my confrontation with the Anforsa. Perhaps I could hook there and do a little searching of my own.

The house was quiet, though I did hear voices coming from the basement. I never would have pegged my brother and Arsinua as a couple, but in a strange way they fit together. Travis was about as serious as the testy witch, and had a tendency to think he could lecture me. I always knew he was about to start when his eyebrows would go up and he’d say, “Now Devany, you know ...” For the brief time I’d had Arsinua in my head, I’d heard quite a few lectures from her, too. It amused me to think of them in a heated embrace, both earnestly looking into the other’s eyes and saying, “Listen, what I’m about to tell you is important.”

I sat Cheeseweed down in the kitchen and she ran to one of my ramekins filled with water. Next to it was another filled with kibble. Seriously, if they had the wherewithal to buy kitten food, surely they could have picked up a cat dish. Had they gotten a litter box? Did she even know how to use it? I vowed to insist to my children that they would be responsible for all kitty accidents from here on out.

After I found the box and put the baby in it, just in case she had to go, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed Danni’s number. Zech answered, wariness shading his voice. “It’s just me. I have a question.” I told him what I’d faced visiting Marantha and asked him my question.

“The Wastes are south of the Anwar and Ketwer Island is beyond that, out in Shinglee Bay. Why?”

“Because we have a little problem.” I opened the fridge and stood staring at the contents, as if by wishful thinking alone a meal would jump out and assemble itself. I gave him the short version of the Rider story, and then asked, “What shitty thing will fall down on my head when I go there?”

Zech sighed, making the phone crackle with his breath. “The Wastes are dangerous. You don’t want to go there at all.”

Okay. I grabbed the veggie tray from the fridge and put it on the counter, going back for the ice water and deli ham. “I might have to. I’m not letting this parasite take up housekeeping in my head or my son’s.”

“Devany, the place was cursed by the Wydlings thousands of years ago. There’s nothing left but ruins and broken magic. Hell, the Wydlings even claim their goddess was trapped there by King Sorgen at a place called Tempest Peaks.”

I was tempted to ask who King Sorgen was, but told myself it wasn’t important. “Do you have any idea how I can track down this Rider? Any other stories you’ve heard about the parasite? Anything?”

“I know that King Sorgen and the Wydlings worked together to stop the last infestation, and I know they banished the infected to Ketwer Island.

I dunked a baby carrot into the ranch dressing. “How would that help when the parasite can spread through Dreams?”